Leaping Beauty

adieu

2008-12-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

The Leaping Beauty blog has run its course. Thanks for reading.

I feel that my most unique contribution to the web is my photography, so I'm going to keep my purely photo related blog, Gazelle Portfolio (http://gazelle-portfolio.blogspot.com/), up and running. I'm in the process of transferring most of my images already posted on Leaping Beauty over to the other site, and will continue to add new images over time.

Maybe next year I'll start a new blog on my upcoming homesteading adventure, but I'm going to be very busy doing a lot of things I've never done before. Plus, I might not have enough electricity to run a computer at night. What a shame that would be...

best damn webcam sunset I've ever seen

2008-12-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

This sunset even looked pretty cool from Portland, but not quite this dramatic. A very fine day to be on the beach in PC.

cob rules ok!

2008-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Build it by hand, yourself, and learn how little space and stuff you truly need. Learn also how it feels to live in the earth, rather than on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cob_(building)

a nice freakin' view

2008-11-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

Above, looking NNW to Backyards.

And here, looking NE at Velzyland

We were spoiled utterly rotten for 10 days.

i'm gonna sculpt a home with my own two hands

2008-11-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

check it out

and this too

dark mood

2008-11-24T17:34:00.001-08:00

Photo copyright Gazelle 2007

i don't like mondays

2008-11-24T08:48:00.001-08:00

...when I have to work.

the end of another shitty day in paradise

2008-11-10T17:56:00.001-08:00

Sunset Point, Oahu, November 2008

we need a surfing president

2008-10-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

hell yeah, and stylin' too.

another missed opportunity

2008-10-26T22:40:00.001-07:00

If I wasn't leaving for Hawaii this week, I'd really feel like a loser.

i can't go to the beach today...

2008-10-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

...and it hurts.

ouch.

$8.99

2008-10-15T15:37:00.001-07:00

so ridiculous i just barfed in my mouth

2008-10-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

Jessie Puglisi, 22. (Photo: Monica Almeida/The New York Times)

"Those who work on the base — or are married to someone who does — seemed as reliably Republican as the state of Nebraska itself. “Obama is the anti-Christ,” said Jessie Puglisi, 22, whose husband is an airman. “I don’t really agree with any of his policies. My husband feels the same way. He won’t even buy a magazine if Obama’s face is on it. We hang out with a lot of military people, and they all feel the same way.”"

The question is: does she actually know or understand any of Obama's policies? More likely she doesn't like that middle name.

Read article here.

behind the orange curtain

2008-10-04T18:36:00.001-07:00

Real Housewives of Orange County

My family moved to the OC in 1971. Back then it was still touched by an earlier surf, beach, art, and hippie culture. Although we lived in what has now become an "exclusive" beach town, our neighbors then ran the gamut from flamboyant homosexuals to doctors to plumbers to beach bums (and pretty much everything in between). We had trailer parks for retirees and we had a few mansions. It was colorful and fun and safe. The beach ruled and I grew up doing just about everything you can do by the sea: bodysurfing, bodyboarding, skimboarding, spearfishing, ab diving, tidepooling, sailing, fishing, and by 1977, stand up surfing. It was fucking great.

The sad thing about all this is that the experience I had there is no more. Laguna in particular has become Beverly Hills by the sea and has been for some time. Now when I visit, the plastic surgery and very expensive cars and silly posturing and crowds are everywhere. It's sick and it's absurd and it's just the way it goes, I guess.

Rest In Peace, funky, sleepy, beautiful OC of the past:

YAR!

2008-09-26T08:06:00.001-07:00

This is not the first I had heard of the Somali pirates. But when I read it, I began to smile to myself. Not that I'd want to be a pirate or be captured by them, but I am an anarcho-primitivist, after all. Reading about them has me imagining the future collapse of civilization.

the good & the radical

2008-09-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

"The good life is never stable, never secure, never easy and never ended. It is a series of steps or stages, one leading into the other and all, in their outcome, adding, not subtracting; augmenting, not diminishing; building, not destroying; creating, not annihilating."

-- Scott Nearing, 1965

Helen and Scott Nearing

The Good Life Center

The Thoreau Institute

P.S. My wife gets credit for exposing me to the Nearings and The Good Life.

down the toilet

2008-09-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

From a NY Times Op-Ed piece, Sept. 17, 2008:

I talked to a Wal-Mart mom, Betty Necas, 39, wearing sweatpants and tattoos on her wrists.

She said she’s never voted, and was a teenage mom “like Bristol [Palin].” She likes Sarah because she’s “down home” but said Obama “gives me the creeps. Nothing to do with the fact that he’s black. He just seems snotty, and he looks weaselly.”

Good thing she's never voted. Unfortunately, though, lots of people who make decisions based on similar reasoning do vote.

On a related note, Republican leaders point to Palin's ability to field dress a moose as a qualification for office.

holy crap, i'm an anarcho-primitivist

2008-09-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

I can't do anything concrete about it yet, but I am scheming how to drop out. Get off the grid, grow my own food, live in an intentional community with family and perhaps a few like-minded individuals. I've become a bit of a curmudgeon, but with good reason, I think. This is because most people are two-faced idiots that I've had enough of. It's because I no longer want any part of our present socio-economic system. It's because our electoral system and politics are crooked and distasteful. And I don't want to spend this life fighting it and struggling among the masses. I just want to live out my days doing things that truly matter. Like growing food and building tangible things, whether they be practical or creative or relational (or all in one). Oh yeah, and rewilding, too. What a great word and concept.

Anarcho-primitivism

P.S. Belatedly, my wife gets credit for exposing me to anarcho-primitivism

spanish hills

2008-08-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Photos copyright 2001 Gazelle

In and around the village of Toro, Galicia, Spain

thicket

2008-08-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2000 Gazelle

Bali bamboo

i need to believe in super heroes

2008-08-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Darfur photo from NY Times

With crap like this going on, we need all the help we can get.

dry and crispy

2008-08-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 1995 Gazelle

It's getting to be that time of year...

Summertime scene near Circle X Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains, CA

rope and a broom

2008-08-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 1994 Gazelle

Play time in Yelapa, Jalisco, Mexico

be a man!

2008-07-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

What does it mean when somebody says, "Be a man!". What should it mean? Should it even be said at all? How about "Be a human!" instead?

This book is painful to read. Not because it's poorly written - it is extremely accessible, especially considering it was researched and written by an academic. What's painful is reflecting on what "masculinity" means in this society and what modern, mainstream porn adds to the mix. Powerful stuff that should be reflected upon by all of us, male and female - it represents a dialogue that should be (but isn't) taking place everywhere in this country.

stop-time

2008-07-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

"One warm spring night we staged a revolution. All the Junior boys, thirty or forty of us, spontaneously decided not to go to bed. We ran loose on the grounds most of the night, stalked by the entire faculty...A few legitimate captures were made by the younger men on the staff, but there was no doubt most of us could have held out indefinitely. I, for one, was confident to the point of bravado, coming out in the open three or four times just for the fun of being chased. Can there be anything as sweet for a child as victory over authority? On that warm night I touched heights I will never reach again - baiting a thirty-year-old man, getting him to chase me over my own ground in the darkness, hearing his hard breath behind me (ah, the wordlessness of the chase, no words, just action), and finally leaping clean, leaping effortlessly over the brook at exactly the right place, knowing he was too heavy, too stupid as an animal, too old, and too tired to do what I had done. Oh God, my heart burst with joy when I heard him fall, flat out, in the water. Lights flashed in my brain. The chase was over and I had won. I was untouchable. I raced across the meadow, too happy to stop running."

Frank Conroy, Stop-Time

pitchfork rebellion!

2008-07-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

So I was reading about Oregon Forestry laws and history recently, just trying to understand how and why such an often progressive state could have such unsustainable logging practices, and I learned some interesting stuff. There is a citizen group founded about 3 years ago in Lane County's Coast Range area called Pitchfork Rebellion. These are rural folks tired of the big logging companies' practice of clear cutting and dousing the neighboring hills (and their families) with herbicides. They don't like the naked hilltops, choked streams, or the resulting mudslides either. Who would? There's a big rally set for this Sunday July 27th in Portland.

Apparently when Oregon's forestry laws were passed in the early 70's they were somewhat ahead of their time. Now they are lagging sadly behind the times and are considered by many to be the weakest protections for the forest in the Western US.

umbabarauma

2008-07-14T21:34:00.001-07:00

In honor of my friend Breno's new enterprise of importing Brazilian surfboards made by one of that country's finest shapers, I give you Jorge Ben, live.

Surf around Breno's website - he tells me the boards should be priced comparably to US made boards. These boards are different than what we are commonly seeing up here in the northern hemisphere - check their lineup of standard shapes here. Check out the Popozuda, or Big Butt, below -

habib koite

2008-07-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

July 30, 7PM, only 10 bucks at the Oregon Zoo Amphitheater!

where's the surf?

2008-07-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

I'm in serious need of a surf, but as in this image the beach is not in sight...

heavy attitude

2008-07-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

Those of you not living in Oregon will probably not recognize the significance of this July 4th weekend photograph. It's of two dory boaters seconds after running over a 14 year old surfer and completely severing his arm at one of the coast's most popular surf breaks. I hope they are ashamed. I also hope that the local prosecutor charges them and the kid's family files a civil suit. They deserve to suffer a little for this unnecessary accident, and the callous attitude. And no, I don't feel sorry for struggling working (or recreational) fishermen irritated by surfers in the way - deal with it, kooks. All activity comes with responsibility, so own up and act appropriately.

photographer describes scene

http://www.katu.com/news/24056914.html

skin

2008-07-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

clear lake

2008-07-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

three fingered jack

2008-07-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008

...is the peak in the distance.

It's a Beavis and Butthead name for a mountain if I ever heard one.

steady flow

2008-06-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

Metolius River, Oregon

The Metolius flows directly from deep spring headwaters, which makes for a steady and mellow flow all year round.

going postal

2008-06-26T10:14:00.001-07:00

The voices of people were the same, no matter where you carried the mail you heard the same things over and over again.

"You're late, aren't you?"
"Where's our regular carrier?"
"Hello, Uncle Sam!"
"Mailman! Mailman! This doesn't go here!"

The streets were full of insane and dull people. Most of them lived in nice houses and didn't seem to work, and you wondered how they did it. There was one guy who wouldn't let you put the mail in his box. He'd stand in the driveway and watch you coming for two or three blocks and he'd stand there and hold his hand out.

- excerpt from Post Office by Charles Bukowski

old & grey (in color)

2008-06-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

Dead tree trunk, Black Butte, Oregon

On a totally unrelated note, I've added some new you tube links in my "Watch & Groove" section to the right. Sadly, some links had to be deleted since the videos had been removed (I'm gonna miss Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up"). But for those of you that are interested, I found a nice fresh crop - a great live version of "Autonomy" by the Buzzcocks from around 1990, some essential Clash, namely "Tommy Gun," "Train In Vain," and "Ghetto Defendant." Also, check out the two amazing Black Sabbath concert clips from 1970 - "Fairies Wear Boots" and "War Pigs." Maybe all this old music is related to my post - it clearly demonstrates what an old (though not yet grey) fart I've become.

P.S. "Pump It Up" is back, but probably won't last long - check that footwork!

high and mighty

2008-06-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

The McKenzie River, between Sahalie and Koosah Falls, Oregon

whaddya got for me?

2008-06-22T23:56:00.001-07:00

Photos copyright 2008 Gazelle

Begging ground squirrels, Black Butte, Oregon, elevation 6436 ft.

that evil we do (so well)

2008-06-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

excerpt from To Bear Any Burden: The Vietnam War And Its Aftermath In The Words Of Americans And Southeast Asians -

"To maintain control in the camp, the Pathet Lao used prisoners as spies. They reported to the Pathet Lao the names of dissidents and conversations they heard among other prisoners. There were many executions by firing squad. Some people were sent to jails from which they never returned. Others were shot while trying to escape.

On one occasion, a group of thirty prisoners talked amongst themselves about conditions in the camp. A spy overheard this and told a Pathet Lao official. The thirty conversants were rounded up. The Pathet Lao accused twelve of them of being "radical rightists." They were tied with a rope and forced to sit.

The soldiers picked up big hammers that we used to break stones, and hit the prisoners on the head. They were lying in a pool of their own blood. But they were not dead. And the victim's eighteen friends stood around them, paralyzed with fear. The Pathet Lao ordered them to bury the twelve friends alive.

The eighteen protested strongly that these wounded men were still alive. They refused to bury them. The Pathet Lao became furious. They handed the prisoners the bloody hammers and ordered them to beat the men lying on the ground to make sure that they were dead. Unfortunately, the men had no choice but to finish off their friends. They then buried them as the Pathet Lao ordered."

Prasith Sayaphon, Prisoner, Pathet Lao Seminar Camp, Laos-Vietnam Border, 1975-82

d.i.y. style

2008-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

"In the beginning it was basically a volunteer arrangement as there was no money to pay anyone, but by the early '90s we were not only able to pay everyone, but also able to provide them with health insurance and other benefits. I've always considered this one of our most important achievements. Most businesses, including record labels, have used profits (or at least the fear of losing profits) as their guideline for operations. Because we have tried to approach the label as a mission of documentation as well as a community-based entity, we have managed to avoid many of the industry-standard practices. The fact that we are able to help support the people who work for us as well as pay royalties to the bands seems to be proof that such an approach is possible."

Ian MacKaye, from the Dischord Records website History pages.

summertime

2008-06-12T10:30:00.001-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

It's coming. I can feel it...

victory at sea on the clackamas

2008-06-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

That's me on the far right, getting some snow melt swell...

st. johns IV

2008-06-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

st. johns III

2008-06-05T11:11:00.001-07:00

st. johns II

2008-05-31T20:03:00.001-07:00

a short history of harvesting bird crap

2008-05-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

NY Times photo by Tomas Munita

This story in the NY Times today shows just how ridiculous we can be as a species, particularly when it comes to the lengths we will go to extract natural resources until they are no more.

st. johns

2008-05-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright Gazelle 2008

orchestrated evil

2008-05-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

excerpt from To Bear Any Burden: The Vietnam War And Its Aftermath In The Words Of Americans And Southeast Asians -

"The first step was the ideological preparation, self-criticism among Party members. The second step was announcing a trade tax, based on the system Mao had applied in China. A Trade Office was established to give the Party monopoly of all trade. In the village where I lived, there was a merchant from the city who opened a watch-repair shop. Like every other shop owner he had to put up a sign, "Welcome Trade Tax!" Since he has a little education, he knew to put an exclamation mark to express enthusiasm. But this was very bad luck for him. In the Maoist Chinese vocabulary an exclamation mark is a sign of complaint. At a village meeting to denounce "reactionaries," the Communist cadre who acted as chairman told him, "You are very clever. You say 'Welcome' but you use a mark of complaint." He was beaten to death. A victim of Western grammar.

...Peasants were forced into playing out retaliation against neighbors. For instance, if a father has been classified a "landlord," the cadre call in the children. If the eldest is a girl with younger brothers and sisters, she is told, "If you do not denounce your father, you will be classified as a landlord, too. But if you publicly denounce your father and say that he raped you, you can stay home to take care of your brothers and sisters." To save the rest of her family, she was obliged to go along. It was like a staged drama, orchestrated by the Party. Peasants and landowners had to play roles like in the theater."

- Hoang Van Chi, Resistance Operative, Viet Minh, North Vietnam, 1945-1954

the flail factor

2008-05-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me while surfing today at Oregon's most popular cove that beginners here will forever flail, unless they work really hard at it or surf elsewhere a lot. The waves here are just too unpredictable, unforgiving, and just plain bad for learning to surf. But that's a good thing for the rest of us seasoned surfers. The beginners here are full of stoke and friendliness for the most part, they don't take it very seriously, and when it's good they can't even make it out to the break zone. It all works out quite well...

sprung

2008-05-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

Ash Tree, my house.

warm spring evening

2008-05-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

North Portland waterfront along the Willamette, underneath the St. John's Bridge.

cloud's rest

2008-05-05T23:53:00.001-07:00

Photo copyright 1996 Gazelle

Naked bouldering, high above Tenaya Canyon, Yosemite.

onshore afternoons

2008-04-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright Gazelle 1992

Will Rogers State Beach, CA

killing bugs

2008-04-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright Gazelle 1992

Palisades Park, Santa Monica

In honor of the release of Foulweather #2, I offer some beauty from the filth:

"Nothing in the shelter makes more sense to me, makes me understand my purpose more, than to kill bugs on a homeless man's flesh, to dress him well in donated, cast-off clothes, to see him the next day, laughing beside a burning barrel."

- another bullshit night in suck city, Nick Flynn

down south

2008-04-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2000 Gazelle

Redneck mini-mall, rural South Carolina

flutter bye

2008-04-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

I am not ashamed to admit I like butterflies. Sure, they're not the most masculine of creatures but in my book they've got a lot going for them. First off, they're really cool looking - in flight, or migration, or just hanging out on a rock or a flower. They also pollinate a lot of plants. And how about the way some will rhythmically fan their wings while stationary? Or the fact that they start off life as a caterpillar (a very cool creature in itself)? Face it, butterflies are bitchin' and you know it. You're probably thinking you'd like to be reincarnated as one right now.

I remember as a little kid living in Laguna Beach in the early 70's, seeing Monarch butterflies everywhere. They used to camp out in eucalyptus trees in my neighborhood. It was a migratory pattern for them to travel through on their way to Mexico or points north. They fluttered by everywhere. It was awesome. There were other butterflies around, too, and I dug all of them. Little did I know then I would live to see a rapid decline in their numbers. Butterflies worldwide have been hit hard by deforestation, development, pesticides, air pollution, and infections. In Britain, Sir David Attenborough is backing a project to help save butterflies and educate people of their intrinsic value and importance to ecosystems: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/13/conservation.wildlife1. These creatures are indicators, very sensitive to changes in the environment, similar to amphibians in that regard (don't get me started on salamanders - they're disappearing too and it pisses me off). Anyway, when indicator species start disappearing, it's time to pay attention and do something.

the other side

2008-04-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2000 Gazelle

Edisto River and wetlands, S. Carolina

"Disengaging the clutch, I lurch forward, one car's length closer to the border - one unit closer to a newer, less-monied world, where a different food chain carves its host landscape in alien ways I can scarcely comprehend. Once I cross that border, for example, automobile models will mysteriously end around the decidedly Texlahoman year of 1974, the year after which engine technologies became overcomplex and nontinkerable - uncannibalizable.
...I will find fences built of whalebones, chromed Toyota bumpers, and cactus spines woven into barbed wire. And down the town's deliriously white beaches there will be spare figures of street urchins, their faces obscured and overexposed by the brightness of the sun, hopelessly vending cakey ropes of false pearls and lobular chains of fool's gold."

Douglas Coupland, Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture

ristorante cinese

2008-04-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 2000 Gazelle

Venice, Italy

fun in the bun

2008-04-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 1996 Gazelle

Chicago, Illinois

Is there any fun out of the bun?

soft and pointed

2008-04-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 1994 Gazelle

Yucca, San Gabriel Mountains, California

Away from the decay and back to the beauty.

terrorism clarified

2008-04-10T07:57:00.001-07:00

in case you were unsure...

(click to enlarge)

gordon gekko lives...

2008-04-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

...and he's richer than ever!

Ben Stein tells us all about it

The Gekko character may not have been a CEO, but his business philosophy was right in line with most of these raiders. This a very, very, very big problem for our economy and all working class and middle class Americans. Demand that Congress or the SEC do something about it!

damn commie tree huggers...

2008-04-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

Green Is The New Red

stoopidity

2008-03-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Chilean fish farm tanks - Photo NY Times

"Residual antibiotics have been detected in Chilean salmon that have been exported to the United States, Canada and Europe, Dr. Cabello said.

He estimated that 70 to 300 times more antibiotics are used by salmon producers in Chile to produce a ton of salmon than in Norway. But no hard data exist to corroborate the estimates, he said, “because there is almost an underground market of antibiotics in Chile for salmon aquaculture.”

Researchers say that some antibiotics that are not allowed in American aquaculture, like flumequine and oxolinic acid, are legal in Chile and may increase antibiotic resistance for people. Last June the United States Food and Drug Adminstration blocked the sale of five types of Chinese seafood because of the use of fluoroquinolones and other additives.

But huge numbers of fish go uninspected. The F.D.A. inspected only 1.93 percent of all imported seafood in 2006, Food and Water Watch said, citing F.D.A. data."

- excerpt from NY Times article "Salmon Virus Indicts Chile's Fishing Methods"

it could be worse...this could be your job

2008-03-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Photo from harpseals.org

This is an image from the annual Canadian Harp Seal Slaughter. The goal this spring is to kill approximately 300,000 pups, primarily for their fur.

Sea Shepherd Seal Defense Campaign 2008

stormy weather

2008-03-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Photo from yachats.org

Old Man Winter just doesn't want to take a rest up here in Oregon. Snow, wind, and pelting hail, all during "Spring Break." The wife and I almost got blown out of the nursery yesterday while trying to pick out some new native shrubs for the garden. Thankfully the flowers, trees, and shrubs are telling me spring IS here, as I excitedly watch buds, blooms, and leaves unfurl.

into the wild

2008-03-23T18:51:00.001-07:00

I read the book "Into The Wild" not long after it came out, and just saw the film the other day. No matter what you think of Chris McCandless and what happened to him, most observers would probably admit the story is fascinating. Both the book and film are artfully done, and the film in particular was especially beautiful to behold. It's a wonder McCandless didn't die sooner than he did with the risks he took, but nonetheless I admire his total commitment to adventure, and to freedom from material possessions. His story and the choices he made are a poignant starting point for debate on so many issues of our time...

watch the trailer

the pits

2008-03-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Photo copyright 1994 Gazelle

War Memorial, Washington, DC

"When your best buddy gets blown up right next to you, and you have pieces of him all over you, that's really the pits."

- WW II vet

about a son

2008-03-14T11:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.kurtcobainaboutason.com/

This is an unexpectedly well done film, particularly for a documentary about a rock star. It is told in Cobain's own voice, and set to evocative images. You will see no moving images of Nirvana, and very few stills of him or the band. And none of Nirvana's music either, but instead music that was important to him, along with a beautiful score. The images are mostly composed of gracefully photographed images of people and places and evergreens and gray skies shot in the three places Kurt Cobain lived in Washington - Aberdeen, Olympia, and Seattle. The result is moving, intimate, and revealing.

hung far low

2008-03-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

milano

2008-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

darwin's nightmare

2008-03-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

"The old question, which social and political structure is the best for the world, seems to have been answered. Capitalism has won. The ultimate forms for future societies are "consumer democracies", which are seen as "civilized" and "good". In a Darwinian sense the "good system" won. It won by either convincing its enemies or eliminating them.

It is... incredible that wherever prime raw material is discovered, the locals die in misery, their sons become soldiers, and their daughters are turned into servants and whores."

A Film By Hubert Sauper

scorched earth

2008-03-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Photo: Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Destroyed village in Darfur, February 2008

on mexican time

2008-02-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

Photo by Gary Denness

The author of On Mexican Time left his home in L.A. seeking warmth and sanity. Four years after moving to Mexico with his wife, he offers these thoughts on his new home in San Miguel de Allende, and where he came from...

"In California we don't talk much about Mexico. We've grown tired of the blank stares, the feigned interest, the allusions to Tijuana and the border towns, the beaches of Cabo or Cancun.

...Old friends are busy climbing up, clinging to, falling off career ladders. The conversation is the same one we checked out on six months earlier, different only in detail, with television and movies the referent, not live experience or books. I'm losing the jargon, the codes, the names of things. In conversations I blank on celebrities' names, hip expressions. Car alarms go off like crazy toys. Helicopters throb overhead, spotlighting evil. The nightly news imbues pedestrian acts with hysterical urgency. Few people walk for pleasure. There's little time to talk, and seldom of important things.

..."Yes, but what do you do there?" one friend asks.

How to describe a trip to the Tuesday market? A four hour dinner with Carlos, Elenita, Arnaud, and Collette in our patio by the Quebrada bridge? Waking up to the bells' sweet clangor? Hurrying along the cobbles in the rain, ducking under archways? How to describe Friday lunches at El Caribe, or checking out Thomas More's Utopia at the little bilingual library and actually reading it through? It's as if we have a secret life, in a secret place.

I used to like L.A.: the cool speed, the indifference to history, the near monastic life of house, car, house. It freed the mind to run along some ever widening horizon line. Flatness, the absence of affect: not a bad place for a writer. There's no world out there so you invent one. I can't muster that appreciation any longer. I want taste, smell, sabor, ambiente. I want the human shape to my days."

P.S. As an aside, some of you will remember my recent posts on the death of my friend Chris. I owe my knowledge of the author quoted above to him. Randomly, he sent me a book by the same author early last year which I only got around to reading shortly before his death. He told me he found the book in a bargain bin before a flight and thought it sounded like a good read. He'd never heard of the author until purchasing the book. After reading it, he sent it on to me. The very last time I spoke with Chris was to thank him for the book and to let him know how much I enjoyed it. He'd almost forgotten he sent it to me but he was stoked I'd enjoyed it. Now that I've started reading On Mexican Time, I see that Chris' spirit lives on, as I read a book I wouldn't know about otherwise, about a culture and people he loved so much.

spring fed

2008-02-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

fear the reaper

2008-02-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 2001 Gazelle

Nuco, the village butcher, ponders his weapon of choice for dispatching an unsuspecting pig. Laza, Galicia, Spain.

no stomach for it...

2008-02-19T20:22:00.001-08:00

I concluded the 5 disc Ken Burns series "The War" tonight. WW II was so big, so dramatic, and so full of death and horror, it's really hard to get your head around. And part of the story in this series is that when the American vets and POW's came home, no one understood what they had been through, or even wanted to hear about it. But to hear these people tell of their suffering, their recurring nightmares, their hatred of the enemy, and gradual healing (in some cases) is perhaps the best way to start getting your head around it. You come away with the inescapable sense that the war fundamentally changed people, for better or worse.

One veteran in the film speaks of his best friend, who passed away in 2001 and fought with him in the war. He had a rough time adjusting to civilian life. He was from Alabama, and had been a hunter since he was a boy. But when he got home after the war he told his friends and family that he just didn't have the stomach for hunting anymore. He had become used to his prey being able to defend itself. Now that he was a battle-hardened killer of men, hunting animals who couldn't shoot back just didn't make sense.

god bless the slugs

2008-02-18T22:08:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

On the trail between buildings at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College.

out of step

2008-02-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

"Where the environment is stupid or prejudiced or cruel, it is a sign of merit to be out of step with it."

Bertrand Russell

big island #2

2008-02-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 1995 Gazelle

Waipio Valley, Hamakua Coast.

And this image would make a nice #3...

big island #1

2008-02-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

roped

2008-02-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

war zone

2008-02-12T09:39:00.001-08:00

Photo copyright 1992 Gazelle

Lately I've been watching the Ken Burns PBS doc "The War," and something which struck me powerfully (among other things) is that according to the film, an estimated 50-60 million people died during World War II, and of those, 405,000 were American. Almost all of these were military. Very few civilian Americans died or even experienced the war firsthand since a real threat to our mainland never materialized. The USA hasn't had to endure all out war on our soil since the American Civil War. We're spoiled that way like few other nations.

When the LA riots broke out in April '92, I in all my youthful stupidity decided to explore the heart of the lawless center of the city. I drove around and took some photos, none very good because the chaos and absence of any authority scared the hell out of me - I cautiously viewed most happenings from afar. The mood that first full day of the riots was what I imagine a war zone to feel like, although there was the added element of gleeful looting here and there. At a few locations, firefighters were hard at work without any police back up. Some rioters fired weapons at them. At most locations there was an eerie quiet, punctuated by bursts of angry property destruction. On MLK Jr. Blvd., I watched a young black woman as she feverishly attempted to smash the storefront of a small business with a brick. No one else was in sight. At one point she looked my way, and I swear she looked like a crazed zombie. Anyway, you're probably wondering what my point is. I'm not sure - it's an amorphous string of thoughts I'm experiencing. I would not recommend that anyone seek out a war zone, but I would recommend that everyone take into account that most of the world will continue to experience violence and chaos on a regular basis right on their doorstep.

You know that feeling of dread and fear and near nausea that you've probably experienced at one point or another in your life? Well, that's probably what most people are experiencing in the middle of a war zone...

burn hollywood burn

hollywood forever

2008-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

Christopher Michael O'Leary - R.I.P.

misteriosos

2008-01-30T01:24:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 2001 Gazelle

Galicia, Spain

Be back next week - down to LA for my friend's memorial service...

in the can

2008-01-28T01:22:00.000-08:00

random

2008-01-26T01:22:00.000-08:00

corn...seed...pecans

2008-01-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 2003 Gazelle

South Carolina, USA

A lot of heavy stuff going on lately, so it's time for a bit of levity. When was the last time you were on the road and needed some corn and seed with your pecans?

chris

2008-01-23T01:00:00.001-08:00

This is a photo of me and my friend Chris on his wedding day in 2002. Chris is wearing the snazzy suit and flower. He was very happy that day, as was his bride Michele.

Chris died last weekend at his home in Los Angeles. He was shot in the head apparently by accident in a drive-by shooting. He was father to two beloved dogs and a cat, and worked for LA County in its STD prevention program. He was fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and was a fine dancer. He will be missed.

Obituary link

i think they were on to something...

2008-01-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

"Only after the last tree has been cut down…the last river has been poisoned…the last fish caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." Cree Indian Prophesy

The modern market economy will likely be the demise of us all. As an example, it certainly has been the driving force in the collapse of fish stocks all over the world. Just imagine thousands of factory trawler and processing ships scooping everything up in their wakes, running 24-7 for decades now and you get the idea. Plus there are the traditional and small scale fishermen, and poachers, too. Sustainability? What's that? People want sushi and fish sticks and shark fin soup and farmed salmon gotta eat fish meal, you know. We are quite insane, and we will be very hungry when there's only money left to be eaten.

battle royale!

2008-01-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

I'm glad I don't have to do this for a spot on a rock and a little nooky...

http://blip.tv/file/566226

wintergreen

2008-01-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

Photo copyright 2008 Gazelle

Ozark Mountains, near Eminence, Missouri

I appreciate and enjoy wintertime and its accompanying shorter days, greyness, colder temps, and storms. But one thing I can't comfortably tolerate is a winter environment where everything is brown and white, and virtually every tree appears dead. That's why I'm happy to live in the Pacific Northwest, and to visit winter landscapes dominated by evergreens.

weird scene

2008-01-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

Iowa, January 2008

Photo NY Times

denied

2008-01-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

On a day with 25 foot swell and steady west winds...

...we hoped for the tide push here to make a difference. It didn't.

usonian

2007-12-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Gordon House

Well worth a tour if you're a fan of architecture - the design and setting got me very excited about what can be done in a small, simple, and affordable space. Pure genius.

My favorite aspect is this: visitors often remark both how well the house blends into the setting and how from inside it feels as though you are outside. It's true.

dark and wet

2007-12-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

pv cove

2007-12-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

Photo by Grannis

Okay, enough of the heavy posts for awhile. This is not one of my favorite Grannis images, but it brings a smile to my face when I think of all the times I surfed here, and the sheer joy of surfing at spots that involve a little hike through nature to get to the water. We've got a few of those here in Oregon, and it's all part of the experience.

As for the Cove, I can say two main things about it - it can handle very big swells, and it was one of the few places in Santa Monica Bay I'd risk surfing during or after the rains - lots o' kelp offshore and lots of permeable surface as the runoff rushed down the cliffs. Oh, and one more important thing to know when it rains in L.A. and there's a big WNW'er running - south-southwest winds blow offshore here...

P.S. I hope to have some new photography to share soon, and some more archival shots when I get the time to scan 'em in.

beware the hair helmet

2007-12-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

who are these men of power with their wealth, pasty complexions, and perfect hair?

bad...bad...baaaaaad!

2007-12-17T20:43:00.001-08:00

Mallory Knox told it like it was. As a species we've been very naughty, and a solid scolding from Ms. Knox is long overdue. But it could be that it's too late for such a scolding to do any good.

This century will no doubt be a defining one for us and the planet. I'm simultaneously horrified and excited by the many possibilities. What will China do with its billion plus people, its political system, its environment, its economy? Will the USA elect progressively dumber and increasingly nefarious leaders? Will Islamic terrorists get their fanatical little hands on nuclear material and detonate a "dirty bomb?" Will we figure out that the wonders and absurdities of the marketplace are not the be-all and end-all? Will mass extinctions and climate change seriously start slapping us in the face? Will we wise up? Probably not, but I can't abandon hope entirely...

a wish for a simpler life...

2007-12-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Often times I daydream of trading debt, bills, insurance premiums, traffic, pollution, taxes, noise, crime, and lots of dumbasses for tradition, ritual, beauty, and a sense of connectedness to community and the elements. There's an undertow to this line of thinking, and the end result could be good or maybe not very good at all...